Honor, Duty, and Ramirez
by Bellena
Summary: A series of oneshots about Fina having nightmares, set on Crescent Isle... romantic overtones, but not much more than in the game. Rr if you want, constructive criticismpraisemillions of dollars appreciated.


Author's Note/Disclaimer: I'm not making any money off this, so don't sue me. As usual, constructive criticism is appreciated and I almost take flames as a compliment, since, well, they're attention. For the sake of the story I feel like writing, I might ignore a few things that happen in the game, mainly Enrique/Moegi ones. Sorry. If there's demand for it I might post another chapter, but there's no story here to go anywhere- that'd just be another one-shot.

It was the nearing the end of a battle.

Fina could barely stand, kneeling behind Enrique, who's swordsmanship would only hold the enemy off for so long. Tears blurred her vision; Vyse and Aika had already fallen, their blood pooling around them. Franticly she searched the area, hoping against hope that something would manage to come to save the two standing there, herself franticly trying to heal Enrique as fast as he was getting hurt, having no energy left for her own wounds, her energy draining…

"Ramirez..." she said, her voice halfway between a sob and a gasp, "Don't… he is… he wouldn't…"

But the begging had cost her too much time, Enrique fell back and she caught him, checked his neck for a pulse, and then, before she knew the answer…

"Fina! Fina, what's wrong?" A familiar voice called. Looking around, Fina found that she was awake, sitting up in bed, moonlight streaming in through the window.

"What… you're…" Fina gasped.

"Are you decent?" Aika said.

"…Yeah," Fina said, "Come in."

"What was that? You were screaming… bad dream?"

"Yeah. I saw… I saw you and Vyse dead, and Enrique dying. I couldn't save you… and…"

"It's okay, it's just a dream. Anyway, you're awake now, why don't you come down for something to eat?"

-+-

It was just a dream, she told herself that morning as she and Moegi helped clear the debris into neat piles according to material. Kirala was instructing them in what to do to salvage what they could from the now-ruins of what was once the quant little village upon Crescent Isle.

And yet she couldn't get the images out of her head, the feeling of desperation from seeing Ramirez's sword make Enrique… fall… into her arms. How could she be brave against someone impossible to defeat? What good is a shard of crystal and a magical pet against someone so merciless?

She had still been having the dream, it had come back, sometimes changing, ever so slightly, so that Ramirez would kneel down and tell her that she had been fooled by these people, that they would betray her, that her love for them cheapened her love for her own race…

He said all of this much faster than he could in reality, conveying them to her in her own thoughts, the language of her own mind, and then, very coldly, very deliberately, drawing the sword of a dark moon, as he called it, across Enrique's throat. She would sit, motionless, next to the bodies of her other two companions as the prince's blood dripped onto her white robe, her white skin. Every time, she would wake up before she had a chance to try to save Enrique or herself, beg for mercy, or let her tears soak into the prince's hair.

She had been working without her mind or her heart in the work when she realized that she and Moegi had finished, that Kirala was telling them to have a rest and go and have some food at the tavern.

Vyse, Lawrence, Polly and Urala had been working on the tavern all morning, and though the kitchen was up and working again, there was no sitting room, so they all took their food next to the water on the edge of the island to eat there in the shade of the mostly-rebuilt living quarters. Vyse had also taken a lunch break at the same time as Fina, and she came and sat next to him with a fresh box of dumplings she didn't feel like eating in hand.

"The reconstruction's coming along nicely," she said, eyes scanning the peaceful sky beyond the edge of the isle.

"Yes, it'll be finished soon," he said. "We'll be able to take on whatever comes our way after we have a proper base again."

"Yeah, I suppose."

"Something wrong?"

"No, not really… it's nothing, I don't want to trouble you," she said.

"Don't worry about what'll be troubling me," he said, his voice soft and comforting. "If there's something wrong, I might be able to help."

"It's nothing… I've just been having these dreams… about Ramirez…"

"Is that why you haven't been sleeping?" he said. How did he know she hadn't been sleeping? she thought to herself before remembering the dark circles she had seen under her eyes that morning.

"Yeah, it is…" she said, poking at the dumplings with her chopsticks. "Want these? I'm really not hungry."

"You should eat, you need to keep your strength up," he said, looking concerned.

"I know, but…"

"Go over to the tavern and have Polly make you a cup of sweet tea and then go to sleep. That might help. You can take the rest of the day off from working- you'll need the rest more than we need an extra pair of hands."

"…."

"Go, it's okay."

"Thank you…"

-+-

It was dusk when Vyse came by to tell Enrique that he should go grab some dinner and head to bed, that there would be no more light to work by soon. Smiling gratefully, he stood up and brushed his gloved hands together, dusting himself off. It felt good to be doing work, and he could see the difference that they were making- he had built and painted the chicken coop mostly by himself while Lawrence chased after the escaped chickens. It had been two days since the attack and already the island was looking more intact.

Not feeling like any food at the moment and figuring that he could go by later that night and pick up some bread for supper if he wanted to, he headed up to his room to read for a while before bed.

He was laying down in his bed, just lighting up the moonstone lamp next to it when he heard Fina's voice cry out.

"Ramirez, no… You can't… Don't…" the voice was reduced to sobbing, and he leaped from his bed, grabbing his sword. How could he be here, back, so soon? What would he want with them… no, he knew what he wanted- Fina.

"STOP!" He yelled, running into Fina's room, brandishing his rapier. "Face my blade, Ramirez!"

Fina awoke, again, with a start, Cupil circling franticly above her head. "Enrique… you're…"

"What's wrong?" he asked, concern heavy in his voice.

"I thought… I dreamed…" Fina sat up in bed, feet still under the covers, shivering slightly.

"It's okay, there's nothing here," he said, attempting to imitate Vyse's ability to soothe his friends and crew and feeling clumsy at it.

"I know," she said with a sigh. "I just…"

"You're scared."

"Ramirez can… and would… I don't know, I don't even want to think about it, and maybe that's why I keep having these nightmares…"

"He almost killed us. I know. Seeing him do that was absolutely terrifying to me, and he's not trying to kill me specifically for his own gains. I'm just in the way."

"I dreamed that we were fighting him… that you kept fighting, even after Vyse and Aika were dead, and I couldn't heal you as fast as Ramirez was hurting you." This all came out in a rush, Fina was unprepared for this kind of emotion, she considered hiding it but had no idea how to keep… how she could keep going with these images haunting her.

Enrique had no idea how to respond to that, and he sat on the end of her bed, face in his hands.

"Before I came to this world… before I left the shrine… the only person that I had considered a friend was Ramirez. The Elders could not be my friends, they could be allies but they were wiser than I, they did not make good playmates, and then I came here and learned what… what love was, and Ramirez simply learned about hate. And now… I'm the target of that. I can't imagine killing him but this seems like the thousandth time that I felt you die in my arms at his blade."

"You dreamed…" Enrique said, turning to look at Fina.

"…."

"You know, in Valua, I was not really allowed to have friends, or to love- somehow, from the history books, I learned what honor was, and that was the only thing I really believed in for most of my life, up until now. Love could have been a myth, a creation of fairy tales."

"And I grew up knowing only duty. We are not such different people." Fina said. Enrique turned to actually look at her, their eyes met for a minute, but she glanced at her feet.

"You going to be okay?" Enrique asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Thanks."

"Of course."

He got up to leave. Fina wanted to stop him, but couldn't.

Shutting the door behind him, Enrique wished he could've thought of a good reason to stay longer, but Fina was okay, and she would probably want to be alone anyway.

Fina got up and watched him walk back to the tavern through her window, her fear gone, at least for the time being, finally feeling the wind on her face from the open window and taking in the light from the moonstone lamps. She was alive, and, at least for now, she wasn't going to live a fearing half-life.


End file.
